Deposition of thin films on a substrate surface is an important process in a variety of industries including semiconductor processing, diffusion barrier coatings and dielectrics for magnetic read/write heads. In the semiconductor industry, in particular, miniaturization requires a level control of thin film deposition to produce conformal coatings on high aspect ratio structures. One method for deposition of thin films with such control and conformal deposition is atomic layer deposition (ALD). Most ALD processes are based on binary reaction sequences. Each of the two surface reactions occurs sequentially. Because the surface reactions are sequential, the two gas phase reactants are not in contact, and possible gas phase reactions that may form and deposit particles are limited. The typical approach to further ALD development has been to determine whether or not currently available chemistries are suitable for ALD.
One useful application of ALD processes relates the deposition of metal and metal alloy films. One such method of the ALD of a metal alloy involves introducing an organometallic precursor into an ALD system where it partially reacts with the surface of the wafer. Then, a reducing agent like hydrazine in introduced to reduce the partially reacted precursor to a metal. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for new deposition chemistries that are commercially viable.